Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus and a measuring method, and more particularly, to an endoscope apparatus that projects patterns, such as a fringe, onto a subject, to measure the three-dimensional shape of the surface of the subject, and a method of projecting patterns, such as a fringe, onto a subject, to measure the three-dimensional shape of the surface of the subject.
This application is a continuation application based on a PCT Patent Application No. PCT/JP2012/060832, filed on Apr. 23, 2012, whose priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-099889, filed on Apr. 27, 2011 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-099890, filed on Apr. 27, 2011. The contents of both the PCT Application and the Japanese Applications are incorporated herein by reference.
Description of Related Art
In the related art, in order to inspect a subject, there are endoscopes (endoscope apparatuses) including an elongated insertion section and having observation means, such as an optical system and an imaging element, at the tip of an insertion section. Among such endoscopes, there is known an endoscope that acquires a plurality of fringe images obtained by projecting a fringe onto a subject while shifting the phase of the fringe, and that calculates the three-dimensional shape of the subject by a well-known phase shift method using the plurality of fringe images. For example, United States Patent Application, Publication No. 2009-0225321 discloses an endoscope apparatus in which two projection windows used to project a fringe are provided in a tip surface of the insertion section.